Australia's Bank of Queensland has signed a heads of agreement with Citibank to take over its credit card portfolio and provide BOQ-branded cards to its customers.
BOQ managing director David Liddy says the proposed alliance between the two followed an extensive tendering process and would provide the bank with the product, back office and marketing support to maintain growth.
Liddy says the agreement is in line with the bank's strategic goal of becoming a distributor of financial products, rather than a manufacturer.
"We have had significant growth in our card portfolio over the last 12 months, but we had reached the stage where major decisions had to be made regarding back office IT and infrastructure to support future growth in the portfolio," he says.
Credit cards will be provided by Citibank on a white-labelled basis. Citibank will also provide an Australian-based customer contact centre to support the card portfolio.
Says Liddy: “Bank of Queensland customers will continue to have the advantages of a BOQ card, but with greater support, better product range and more extensive national and international systems.”
Negotiations of formal agreements are expected to be completed by the first quarter in 2007.